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The authors found that NKT cells, a population of innate-like T lymphocytes, are critical for the induction of B cell immunity upon viral infection. The positioning of NKT cells at the interfollicular areas of lymph nodes facilitated both their direct priming by resident macrophages and the localized delivery of innate signals to antigen-experienced B cells. [Cell]
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Scientists showed that a single immunization with an adenovirus vector–based vaccine, as well as two immunizations with a purified inactivated virus vaccine, afforded robust protection against Zika virus challenge in rhesus monkeys at one year after vaccination. [Sci Transl Med]
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Researchers showed that M. tuberculosis induced the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, an enzyme involved in tryptophan catabolism, in macrophages and in the lungs of animals (mice and macaque) with active disease. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA]
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The authors describe the evolution and composition of the gastric, small intestinal, and colonic lamina propria mononuclear phagocyte system during the steady state and infection with the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. [Cell Rep]
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The investigation of the lymphoid cell-specific contribution to the IFN-γ-mediated intestinal pathology during T. gondii infection identified CD4+ T cells as a key cell population responsible for IFN-γ-dependent intestinal inflammation and Paneth cell loss, where T-bet-dependent group 1 innate lymphoid cells have a minor role in driving the parasite-induced immunopathology. [Mucosal Immunol]
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Scientists employed an immuno-PET/CT imaging technique to evaluate the impact of an anti-integrin α4β7 mAb alone or in combination with ART, on the distribution of both SIV infected cells and CD4+ cells in rhesus macaques infected with SIV. [Mucosal Immunol]
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The whole transcriptome microarray data were generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells from Chinese children with acute infectious mononucleosis (AIM) and chronic active Epstein–Barr virus infection that were also compared with a publicly available microarray dataset from a study of American college students with AIM. [Sci Rep]
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Following incubation of blood CD4+ T cells with tenofovir (TFV) or TFV-alafenamide (TAF), Medroxyprogesterone acetate, but not Levonorgestrel, Norethisterone or progesterone, suppressed the anti-HIV effect of TFV by reducing intracellular TFV-diphosphate (TFV-DP), but had no effect on TAF inhibition of infection or TFV-DP. [Sci Rep]
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The reasons compelling T cell responses towards inflationary or exhausted responses are only partly understood. In this review the authors compare the two conditions and describe mechanistic similarities and differences. [Trends Microbiol]
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the immunology of infectious disease research field.

ABIVAX announced results from the first cohort of its Phase IIa clinical trial, ABX464-005. The results showed a statistically significant reduction of the HIV viral reservoir in the blood of study participants with HIV. [Press release from ABIVAX discussing research presented at the 8th International Workshop on HIV Persistence During Therapy, Miami]
Press Release

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it filed a regulatory submission to begin a Phase I/II study of ARO-HBV, which is being developed as a potentially curative therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. [Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc.]
Press Release

Medicines Development for Global Health announced the submission of a New Drug Application for moxidectin as an oral treatment for river blindness to the FDA. [Medicines Development for Global Health]
Press Release

The US government has lifted its controversial ban on funding experiments that make certain pathogens more deadly or transmissible. The National Institutes of Health announced that scientists can once again use federal money to conduct ‘gain-of-function’ research on pathogens such as influenza viruses. [Nature News]
Editorial

Cancer researchers were nervous early this year about who President Donald Trump would choose to replace Harold Varmus as director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). But their fears of an unconventional candidate proved unfounded when he tapped Norman “Ned” Sharpless. Sharpless, 51, who was then director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial

Elizabeth Blackburn, the Nobel Prize–winning molecular biologist who took over just two years ago as president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, announced her intent to retire next summer. The unexpected news comes as Salk faces gender discrimination lawsuits from three veteran female scientists and Blackburn herself has been challenged for not moving quickly enough to change what one plaintiff’s suit called an “old boys club” at the renowned research institute. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial

Chile’s new President-elect Sebastián Piñera is poised to reshape science policy in the country. His plans to forge closer ties among science, education and industry have sparked enthusiasm from scientists who hope the plan will bolster support for their work — but also concern about possible changes in research priorities. [Nature News]
Editorial

After his plan to test a cancer vaccine for middle-aged pet dogs was rejected by the US National Institutes of Health, inventor and biochemist Stephen Johnston sought funding outside the mainstream system. The Open Philanthropy Project, a grant-giving organization that is largely funded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna, announced that Johnston will receive US$6.4 million to test the vaccine he developed. [Nature News]
Editorial